AN UNUSUAL BOXWOOD SCROLL WEIGHT, SIGNED ZONG YU QING DYNASTY, 18TH CENTURY

finely and intricately carved in rectangular form, with a landscape scene depicting scholars and their attendants engaged in various leisurely pursuits, some strolling, some resting in a pavilion, others enjoying a game of chess while an attendant brings refreshment, all in a wide wooded valley filled with rockwork and lush pine, paulownia, and bamboo beside a flowing stream, signed Zong Yu, the wood of a warm golden brown tone

Zong Yu was the alias of Gu Jue, a native of Jiading, Jiangsu province, who was active during the Qianlong - Jiaqing periods. He was known to have spend up to one or two years carving a single piece.  It was noted that his carving was so fine and detailed that even the hairs was clearly shown.  An nineteenth century writer and collector wrote that Zong Yu "was like the poets of the Qi and Liang Kingdoms, who could convey the glamour and enchantment in their works."

See a brushpot by Zhong Yu in the Seattle Art Museum, Eugene Fuller Memorial Collection, illustrated in Ip Yee and Laurence C.S. Tam, Chinese Bamboo Carving, part I, Hong Kong Museum of Art, 1978, pp. 232-233.  Another brushpot in the Simon Kwan Collection is illustrated in Simon Kwan, Ming and Qing Bamboo, University of Hong Kong, 2000, cat.no. 95.